St. Clare's Corp hit with judgment for legal debt
SCHENECTADY, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- A judge ruled that the St. Clare's Corporation is responsible for a legal debt to former hospital employees who lost all or part of their pensions in 2018. The corporation could pay up to $35 million.
The amount is only for legal debt and not the amount owed for the pension as a whole. The AARP Foundation brought the case in 2019. The Vice President of Litigation at AARP Foundation said in a statement:
“This milestone makes official what we knew all along—that St. Clare’s owes the plaintiffs the pensions it promised them in return for their decades of service to the hospital and the community. Of course, the Albany Diocese also has a duty—moral, legal, and financial—to the plaintiffs, and to every other pensioner. We look forward to proving that at trial.”
The case represents workers who learned in 2018 they would not receive some or any of their pension money. There have been several roadblocks along the way, including the diocese declaring bankruptcy in 2023 and the death of former bishop Howard Hubbard later that same year.
A judge ruled in May that the lawsuit will go to trial, but a trial has not been set, yet.